8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away (1 Cor 13:8-10).
One cessationist interpretation of this passage is to say the gift of prophecy expired when the church achieved maturity. Once the church was sufficiently mature, it no longer needed prophets. A motivation for this interpretation is to uphold the sufficiency of Scripture.
However, a problem with that interpretation is that Paul doesn't say "prophets" will pass away, but "prophecies." If the spiritual maturation of the church renders prophecies unnecessary, then that would eliminate the need for biblical prophecies. OT and NT prophecies are passé. God has done away with prophecies. Now that we're mature, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and John the Revelator are defunct. That's old hat. That's for the childhood of the church. We've outgrown that. We are the illuminati.
Indeed, to say this refers to the maturity of the church substitutes the sufficiency of the church for the sufficiency of Scripture.
On the eschatological interpretation, by contrast, it makes sense to say the Parousia renders prophets and prophecies out-of-date. Once all things are fulfilled, the predictions have served their purpose. That's old news.
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